“A Bingo card is a narrative form, albeit in its least interesting and most orthodox iteration, only a fancy checklist.”
Category: Author Playlists
“That great writing is often musical is not an ordinary insight, but I’d like to think that my lifetime of thinking about music helped put that sensitivity in my head.”
“It just makes sense to me that a book written while obsessed with bestiaries—those medieval marvels of text and image, of etymology and travel writing and moral philosophy and natural history, of understanding the things we can’t see through the things we can—should inspire as wild, as motley, as unbelievable a playlist as possible.”
“My novel, Play, With Knives, is about a modern-day theater troupe touring the Midwest by train; only, the train is a kind of dreamspace, where random aspects of the playwright’s writings come to life and begin wreaking havoc.”
“For me, engaging with music has often been like holding up a mirror to my own identity, helping me see and understand parts of myself that were otherwise inaccessible.”
“I have two issues with music; a tendency to earworm and a deep sadness that’s triggered by certain kinds of music…”
“Here are fifteen songs that feel like a conversation happening across boundaries: under-seen Joni, songwriters influenced by Joni, maybe even some who wish they could secretly take a vacation from Joni from time to time.”
“This late-nineteenth-century playlist pairs best with a restorative swig of wine of coca (ask your druggist!) or a healthful cup of beef tea.”
“I am a person who actively appreciates music of many kinds. Music has always been a large part of my life, and therefore has a role both within my memoir and as part of my ongoing writing practice.”
“When I write, I kind of have to hypnotize myself. After all, being a novelist means getting paid to have imaginary friends, being attuned to a reality that doesn’t exist for anyone but you, day after day after day.”